Beer history makers: a panel of stories
In conjunction with the not-really-new anymore beer history exhibit “Barley, Barrels, Bottles, & Brews: 200 Years of Oregon Beer" at the Oregon Historical Society, there have been lots of fun events, including a Sunday afternoon talk with panelists Teri Fahrendorf, Fred Bowman, and Jerome Chicvara, all important in the story of beer history, and moderated by exhibit curator Lori Erickson. The weather was uncharacteristically sunny in Portland today, so the full room was even more impressive.
I never tire of these stories, and while I’ve heard many before because I’ve interviewed both Bowman and Fahrendorf (http://bit.ly/ohbaoh), I diligently took notes on the talk and then thought some deep-ish thoughts.
A slight digression on memory and story ... The great thing about stories is that they are never the same. I’m not suggesting that people change their stories, but that the stories change as people remember/repeat them and change depending on who the people are with. I’m co-teaching an oral history class this term for the Honors College and our reading next week is called “Memory and Remembering in Oral History" by Alistair Thomson if you want to read it (http://bit.ly/2DaAgf8). Thomson write about many interesting things, including performance of the “memory story,” the biology and neurology of remembering, and the subjectivity of the interview relationship. He also says that "each act of recall is itself a new experience” and that "storytelling is a tool for creating identity, for making sense of our existence.” There can be a personal joy or catharsis in remembering, but oral histories are also an interesting glimpse into cultural and social memories.
The oral historian can bring photos to prompt memories or have family members present to provide some date recall assistance, but people have to be willing to try and remember. Additionally, we are more likely to remember the details of things that are culturally or personally significant and "encode" them; ultimately, these personal memories are linked to the broader cultural narrative.
I also happened to hear a great interview last week on the Longform podcast with Malcolm Gladwell. At the end of the interview, Gladwell talked about how important stories are for the “flavor” or “texture” that they add to the history, making the details more real and emotional. But he was concerned that our focus on "hard facts" (e.g. dates and proper names) is coming at the expense of us believing people’s stories. It is folly for us to get hung up on the repetition of those facts because the emotion of an interview isn’t dependent on dates/names (things that can be determined using other sources), rather the purpose of an oral history is the connection you have with the person, the trust you cultivate, and the special “historical record” you create together.
So this was all swimming around in my head.
Although I’d never met Chicvara, elements of his story were familiar and complemented what I knew from other interviews I’d conducted. Chicvara left Illinois in 1978 - during a terrible winter - with hopes of opening a vineyard in Oregon. He didn't have deep enough financial pockets to make that work, but he did know from drinking Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam, and imports what good beer was and that people liked good beer. He talked with winemaker (then BridgePort Brewing founder) Dick Ponzi, who suggested that he raise money from friends and family to open a brewery. Ponzi said that with the introduction of "brew pubs" a big change was coming. Chicvara got a job at a distributor to learn mechanics of selling beer (how to explain it to the distributors). He recalled a story about how Fritz Maytag used to send 60 cases of Anchor Steam's Christmas beer with the warning that they’s best not sell anything before December 1st because November wasn’t Christmas! Chicvara said he felt like The Godfather allocating precious beer resources. That brew pub law Ponzi mentioned was really important, as Chicvara learned in his work, because distributors weren’t interested in microbreweries or pushing their stock to new clients; they needed to be able to self-distribute to survive and grow.
But what about Full Sail? Chicvara and his wife took some scouting trips throughout Oregon to visit new breweries and think about the market. They travelled to Ashland and Bend; but he really liked Eugene and his wife liked Hood River. You know how the story ends... Yes, in Hood River. At that point there was 35% unemployment - it was a desolate timber town but it had good water. They had been selling stock for about five years when they met with staff at the Oregon Resource and Technology Development Corp, which was conceived of as an office to use lottery money to support tech companies. They convinced them to loan them the final $250,000 to get the company started; Full Sail was the first success out of that program when they paid off the loan! Convincing the fruit growers that a microbrewery in an empty fruit cannery could turn economy around was a harder sell, but we also know how that story ends. One more fun story that stands out: Chicvara brewed beer once at Full Sail; before he was completely done Dave Logsdon (#1 home brewer of the year) took over and told him to go talk to people about the brewery on the phone. Chicvara left Full Sail when it became employee owned and went to work for Maletis Beverage (the internet said he retired in 2018??).
I said there were other stories I have heard, but I heard them in a new way in this panel. One that felt meaningful in a different way was Fahrendorf's story about her "Road Brewer on Pink Boots tour" and how a list of women brewers turned into an international educational support and mentoring program. The first in-person meet-up was at the 2008 Craft Brewers Conference, where they decided to have a "ladies luncheon." They invited 60 women brewers and 6 beer writers, something that had never happened before. Male journalists wanted to come, but Fahrendorf was steadfast that this needed to be just women because none of them knew what it would be like to be in that room. How would the dynamic change without male voices? It was around then that Fahrendorf realized she had a "male communication style" - she speaks in statements - and that she didn’t know how to talk to women! Ironic, right?
Another story I may have heard, but forgot was one from Bowman about starting Portland Brewing. When Jim Goodwin, Art Larrance, and Bowman deiced to open a brewery, they looked for a consultant to hire. They went with Bert Grant, who had a brewery in the old opera house in Yakima. They drove up to Yakima for a meeting and left with consulting agreement - plus a license to brew Grant's beer in Oregon. Part of the agreement was that Bowman would go to Yakima for a month on weekends to learn how a commercial brewing operation operated. In this old opera house there was a basement, which was where they stored the 800 pound super sacks of malt. The practice was to carry two five-pound buckets up to the second floor, where they would be ground and used to make beer. When Bowman arrived for the first weekend shift the guy who answered the door welcomed him as the new “bucket elevator.”
These three are wonderful storytellers, so time for questions was limited. However... as a librarian I always want to share questions that might turn into research topics, so here you go:
Is the Oregon wine industry operational and profitable because they drink a lot of Oregon beer?
How hard is it to distribute internationally?
What is the state of the market and future? Fahrendorf said that she thought there was plenty of space for community brew pubs where people made a living wage (not a mansion wage).
Are there queer / trans brewers and a community to support them?
What was the role of UC Davis in brewing education?
What was the pub owner's role in promotion of microbreweries?
“Barley, Barrels, Bottles, & Brews: 200 Years of Oregon Beer" is open through June 9 - so go see it! There is also a new semi-permanent exhibit opening at OHS in February, “Experience Oregon,” on the history of Oregon (all of it). Also, remember OHS has a research library for all your archives needs, lots online at Oregon encyclopedia etc, and other super exhibits.
So... in conclusion... The beauty of stories is that they change each time they are told and we hear them. The beauty of archives is that they save stories and paper documents. The beauty of historical societies and research libraries is that they bring communities inside on a sunny Sunday.
